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Peter Levi
Peter Chad Tigar Levi FSA, FRSL (16 May 1931 - 1 February 2000), was an English poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic. Life Youth and education Levi was born in Ruislip, Middlesex. The family of his father, Herbert Simon Levi, came from Istanbul, and that of his mother, Edith Mary (Tigar), was English. His mother was a devout Roman Catholic, and his Jewish father converted to that religion; their three children all entered religious orders. Levi was educated in private Catholic establishments starting at Prior Park near Bath, run by the Christian Brothers]]. When he was 14 Oscar Wilde had become his literary idol. Wilde had said that the Greek text of the Gospels was the most beautiful book in the world,Levi, Peter. (1980) The Hill of Kronos. so a school with more Greek was demanded and he changed schools to Beaumont Colleg, a Jesuit school in Old Windsor, Berkshire. While at Beaumont, at the age of 17 he joined the Society of Jesus as a novice, he was to remain a Jesuit until he resigned the priesthood 29 years later in 1977. Priesthood Levi trained for the priesthood at Heythrop College and read Classics at Campion Hall. During his teenage years he suffered from polio and as an undergraduate was knocked down by a car – the after-effects of these were to affect him throughout his life. Whilst at Heythrop, then a country house near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, he was not the most ruly of seminarians, this and possible doubts his vocation, led to his ordination being delayed for a year: :We used to translate psalm 119 Beati immaculati in via at Heythrop as Blessed are those who are not spotted on the way out. I was spotted too often ... This delay had the side effect of enabling his first visit to Greece in 1963. He travelled through Afghanistan with Bruce Chatwin in 1970, looking for traces of Greek culture. After the priesthood Levi left the priesthood in 1977. He subsequently married Deirdre Craig (granddaughter of Lord Craigavon), widow of Cyril Connolly. He spent a year as archaeological correspondent for The Times before returning to academic life. In 1988, he claimed to have found a previously unknown poem by William Shakespeare in a manuscript at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. However, the claim has not been accepted by most scholars. He died in Frampton-on-Severn in 2000. Recognition In 1984 Levi was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry, serving 1984–1989. Publications Most of this data retrieved from Poetry *''The Gravel Ponds: Poems''. London: Andre Deutsch, 1960. *'' Water, Rock and Sand: Poems''. London: Andre Deutsch, 1962. *"The Shearwaters" in Longer Contemporary Poems. Richmond, UK: Harlequin, 1965.British Library catalogue July 2006. *''Fresh Water, Sea Water: Poems''. London: Black Raven Press / Andre Deutsch, 1988. *''Ruined abbeys''. Northwood, Middlesex, UK: Anvil Press Poetry, 1968. *''Pancakes for the Queen of Babylon: Ten poems for Nikos Gatsos.. Northwood, Middlesex, UK: Anvil Press Poetry, 1968. *Ο τόνος της φωνής του Σεφέρη'' (Mr Seferis' Tone of Voice). Athens: Ikaros, 1970. *''Death is a pulpit''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1971. ISBN 0-900977-69-8 *''Life is a platform''. London: Anvil Press, 1971. ISBN 0-900977-66-3 *''Penguin Modern Poets 22'' (by John Fuller, Peter Levi, & Adrian Mitchell). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1973. *''Collected Poems, 1955–1975''. London: Anvil Press Poettry, 1976. ISBN 0-85646-022-2. *''The Noise Made by Poems''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1977. ISBN 0-85646-026-5 *''Five Ages''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1978. ISBN 0-85646-036-2 *''Comfort at Fifty for my Brother'' (pamphlet). UK: privately printed, 1979. *''Music of Dark Tones'' (with engraving by Simon Brett). Rhandirmwyn, Llandovery, Dyfed, UK: Paulinus Press, 1980. *''Private Ground''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1981. ISBN 0-85646-080-X *''The Echoing Green: Three elegies''. London: Anvil Press, 1983. ISBN 0-85646-111-3 *''Shakespeare's Birthday''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1985. ISBN 0-85646-142-3 *''Shadow and Bone: Poems, 1981–1988''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1989. ISBN 0-85646-211-X *''The Rags of Time''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1994. ISBN 0-85646-258-6 *''Reed Music''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1997. ISBN 0-85646-279-9 *''Viriditas''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 2001. ISBN 0-85646-331-0 Novels *''The Head in the Soup''. London: Constable, 1979. ISBN 0-09-462850-5 *''Grave Witness''. London: Quartet, 1985; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985. ISBN 0-7043-2497-0. *''Knit One, Drop One''. London: Quartet, 1986; New York: Walker, 1987. ISBN 0-7043-2592-6. *''To the Goat''. London: Hutchinson, 1988. ISBN 0-09-173627-7 * Cyril Connolly, Shade those laurels (finished by Levi). London: Bellew, 1990; New York: Pantheon, 1990.. ISBN 0-947792-37-6. Non-fiction History, biography, literature *''Beaumont, 1861–1961''. London: Andre Deutsch, 1961. *''The English Bible, 1534–1859''. London: Constable, 1974. ISBN 0-09-459600-X *''John Clare and Thomas Hardy''. London: University of London / Athlone Press, 1975. ISBN 0-485-16210-5 *''The Lamentation of the Dead: Inaugural lecture''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1984. *''The Frontiers of Paradise: A story of monks and monasteries''. London: Collins Harvill, 1987; New York: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1988. ISBN 0-00-272513-4 *''The Life and Times of William Shakespeare''. London: Macmillan, 1988; New York: Holt, 1988. ISBN 0-333-43584-2. *''A Private Commission: New verses by Shakespeare''. London: Macmillan, 1988. ISBN 0-333-47655-7 *''Goodbye to the Art of Poetry''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1989. ISBN 0-85646-212-8 *''Boris Pasternak''. London: Hutchinson, 1990. ISBN 0-09-173886-5. *'' The Art of Poetry: The Oxford lectures, 1984–1989''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-300-04847-5. *''Tennyson''. Macmillan, 1993; New York: Scribner, 1994. ISBN 0-333-52205-2. *''Edward Lear: a biography''. London: Macmillan, 1995; New York: Scribner, 1995. ISBN 0-333-58804-5 **also published as Edward Lear: A life. London: Taurus, 2013. *''Eden renewed: the public and private life of John Milton''. London: Macmillan, 1996; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. ISBN 0-333-62071-2. *''Horace: a life''. London: Duckworth, 1997; New York: Routlege, 1998. ISBN 0-7156-3136-5. *''Virgil: his life and times''. London: Duckworth, 1998; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-7156-2833-X Autobiography and travel *''The Light Garden of the Angel King: Journeys in Afghanistan''. London: Collins, 1972; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984. ISBN 0-14-009525-X *''The Hill of Kronos''. London: Collins, 1980; New York: Dutton, 1981. ISBN 0-00-216162-1. *''The Flutes of Autumn'' (autobiography). London: Harvill, 1983. ISBN 0-00-216246-6. *''A Bottle in the Shade: a journey in the western Peloponnese''. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996. ISBN 1-85619-588-0. Greece and the ancient world *''Atlas of the Greek world''. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980; New York: Facts on File, 1980. ISBN 0-7148-2044-X. *''Pelican History of Greek Literature''. Harmondsworth, UK, & New York: Viking, 1985. ISBN 0-670-80100-3. Translated *Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Selected Poems (translated with Robin Milner-Gulland). Hrmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1962; New York: Dutton, 1962. *Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Poems chosen by the author. (translated with Robin Milner-Gulland). London: Collins & Harvill, 1966. *Pausanias, Guide to Greece. (2 volumes), Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1971. ISBN 0-14-044226-X *''The Psalms'' (translated with Nicholas De Lange). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1976. ISBN 0-14-044319-3 *George Pavlopoulos, The Cellar. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1977. ISBN 0-85646-027-3 *Alexandros Papadiamantis, The Murderess. London & New York: Writers and Readers, 1983. ISBN 0-904613-94-1 *''Marko the Prince: Serbo-Croat heroic songs'' (translated with Anne Pennington). London: Duckworth, 1984; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. ISBN 0-7156-1715-X *''The Holy Gospel of John: A new translation''. Worthing, UK: Churchman, 1985; Wilton, CT: Morehouse-Barlow, 1988. ISBN 1-85093-027-9. *Martine de Courcel,Tolstoy: the ultimate reconciliation. London: Collins / New York: Scribner, 1988. ISBN 0-684-18569-5. *''The Revelation of John''. London: Kyle Cathie, 1992. ISBN 1-85626-052-6. Edited *Alexander Pope, Pope. Harmondsworth, UK, & Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1974. ISBN 0-14-042174-2. * Boswell, James and Johnson, Samuel. Ed. Peter Levi (1984). A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-043221-3. *''The Penguin Book of English Christian Verse''. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1984. ISBN Link0140422927. Except where note, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Peter Levi, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 6, 2016. Articles and lectures * Levi, Peter (1975). In memory of David Jones: a sermon. In The Tablet. * O'Connell, Eileen. Trans. Eilos Dillon (1984). The Lamentation of the Dead with "The Lament For Arthur O'Leary". ISBN 0-85646-140-7. * Levi, Peter (1990). Hopkins a'i Dduw, (Hopkins and his God). North Wales Arts Association. ISSN 0260-6720. See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"Ruined Abbeys" ;Books *Peter Levi at Anvil Press Poetry ;About *[http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/dnb/73779.html Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry on Peter Levi] *"Peter Levi – poet, priest and life-enhancer", review of Peter Levi: Oxford romantic at The Spectator *"A poet's passing PETER LEVI, ex-Jesuit poet and Oxford don" at The Tablet *Peter Levi, The Art of Poetry No. 24, interview at The Paris Review, 1979. *"Peter Levi: Poet of winter" at The Free Library Category:1931 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Oxford Category:Alumni of Campion Hall, Oxford Category:Alumni of Heythrop College Category:British biographers Category:English Catholic poets Category:English poets Category:English Roman Catholic priests Category:Former Jesuits Category:Laicized Roman Catholic priests Category:People educated at Prior Park College Category:Oxford Professor of Poetry